Monday, November 12, 2012

My Obama lemon cheese cream tart

It was the
USA election day last Wednesday. Both Quay Lo and I were eager to follow the progress of voting. We
were both glued to the couch in the living hall. Our lunch was quick and simple and we had it in front of the TV. LOL!

Simple lunch - grilled herb sausage

and carpet bag egg on French toast with

sliced carrots and seedless grapes(Photo taken with my iPhone 4S)

As soon as the the announcement of Obama was re-elected, we made
an appointment with our good friends, “The Ishiis” . We want to celebrate the landslide victory of US President Barack Obama for second
time in office. So we all decided to go dinner at our favorite
restaurant "Simply Mels".

I like the cosy environment at Simply Mel's

When the food is good, we give our compliment.

My Quay Lo signed the guest book and leave a positive comment.

If you have not been to Simply Mel's before, I would
recommend that you check it out someday. Here are some of the dishes we have tried
so far and they were all delicious. We have yet to try many others in the Menu and I have no doubt they will not disappoint us.

When there is a chance to meet up with my friends and family, I always like to share with them something I baked. This time, the dessert I shared was inspired by my friend, Kelly Siew of "Kelly Siew Cooks". She was the runner-up for The Nutriplus Competition where I was one of the judges at the semi final - round one. Her tart won her a place at
the finals. Since I baked this tart for the celebration of Obama election victory, I will name this tart after him. LOL!

I did not replicate Kelly's lemon cream tart because I
wanted something simpler to do since I do not have too much time to get it ready before we had to leave for the dinner. I found this recipe where there is no need to roll out the dough
for the pie crust or the need to cook the filling. This was exactly what I wanted. I
was a bit worried how the taste will turn out but then all my doubts were
cleared when “The Ishiis” told me it was delicious and the balance of tartness and sweetness was perfect for them. My Quay Lo agreed the flavor was good but he preferred it to be a bit sweeter. So feel free to increase or decrease the amount of sugar and lemon juice accordingly to suit your taste.

Obama Lemon cheese
cream tart

Adapted from
Joy of Baking

Shortbread Crust:

1 cup (130
grams) all purpose flour

1/3 cup (35
grams) confectioners (powdered or icing) sugar

1/8 teaspoon
salt

1/2 cup (113
grams) cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces

Method to
make Shortbread Crust:

Lightly
butter a 9 inch tart pan with removable base.

Put flour,
sugar, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Add the butter, use your hand to rub
them together till the clumps formed. Place the pastry in the prepared tart pan
and, using your fingertips, evenly press the pastry onto the bottom and up the
sides of the pan and then use the back of a spoon to smooth the surface of the
pastry. Pierce the bottom of the crust with a fork. Cover and place the pastry
crust in the freezer for 15 minutes to chill.

Preheat oven to 190 degrees C and place rack in center of
oven. When the pastry is completely chilled, please a parchment paper on top
and pour in some rice to weight down the pastry so that it will not puff up
during baking. Put into the oven to bake until the crust is golden brown, about
13 - 15 minutes. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool while you
make the filling.

Reduce the oven temperature to 180 degrees C.

Lemon
Filling:

140 gm cream
cheese, room temperature.

100 gm castor
sugar (you can increase this if you like this sweeter)

100 ml lemon
juice (you can increase this if you like this more tart)

20 ml water (omit water accordingly if you increase amount of lemon juice)

2 large eggs

1 tbs grated
lemon

Method to make lemon filling:

In an electric mixer, place the cream
cheese and whisk till creamy. Add sugar and whisk till combined. Add the eggs
and combine thoroughly. Add the lemon juice and zest and have them well
blended. Pour filling into pre baked tart shell and bake for approximately 25 -
30 minutes or until filling is set. Transfer tart to a wire rack to cool before
cover and refrigerate to chill for an hour.

Topping:

240 ml cold
heavy whipping

1 tbs icing
sugar

1 tsp
vanilla extract

Method to make topping:

Put your
mixing bowl and whisk in the fridge for about 30 minutes. Whip the whipping
cream and icing until stiff peaks form. Transfer the whipped cream to a pastry
bag fitted with star tip and pipe stars over the entire surface of the tart.
Refrigerate till time to serve.

Bet the cream cheese tart tastes great. Hmmm....I think I'll have Kelly's...without the whipping cream on top...or one without - for the original taste of the tart...and one with - with the added richness of the cream. Slurpssss!!!!!

What a yummy lunch, I'm eyeing the herb sausages LOL! The food at Simply Mel's look really good, must check it out one of these days. And Quay Po, your luscious tarts, haiya.......I am dreaming of it now :)

Interesing: Your pastry has no egg/ice water! I will try that method next time. Cream cheese and Lemon sounds lovely together!! Frank and I both prefer more tartness so I used quite a lot of lemon juice with the orange juice to balance the taste. The whipped cream looks sinful but fitting to the theme: reminds me of the stars in the American Flag.

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A LITTLE ABOUT THIS QUAY PO

Before I was married to my "Quay Lo" (Guaylo) husband, I did not know how to bake or cook. Subsequently I learned some baking and cooking Western cuisine from him, and providing his food for him launched an interest in cooking in general. Many of my Chinese friends and family told me that "Quay" is the wrong spelling for devil in Cantonese. The right spelling should be "Kwai" or "Guay". Well, somehow I like the spelling "Quay" better although I have to agree that it does not sound very Cantonese. Try asking a Westerner to pronounce "Kwai" and you will probably hear "Quay" haha. Whether is "Quay" or "Kwai" or "Guay, just know the devil woman is me when you see Quay Po Cooks. My hubby said if people pronounce "Quay" as "Key" is even better because I am the key to his heart. LOL!

Only now, have I started to learn the traditional Cantonese cuisine of my Mum. She cooks fabulously and all her specialties are divine. These two interests, my husband's Western food, and my mother's traditional food, prompted me to document them so they will not be lost.

Here, I wish to share my cooking and baking experience with my readers. I also hope to inspire those who do not know how to cook or bake to do so because, trust me, if I can, you can too.

Something I'd like to mention is that I find that many people are rather unwilling to share their recipes. However, for me, I think differently. I think good recipes should be shared thus allowing as many people to enjoy it as possible. Unless those recipes are for doing business, I don't see why we want to keep them all to ourselves. So if you are generous in sharing your recipes, you are welcome to share on my blog. Send the recipes to me and better still with pictures of the final products and I will be very happy to post them them with credits to you of course.

Our cuisine is a deeply embedded part of our culture. When two cultures come together under the same roof the results in the kitchen can sometimes be comedic, sometimes confrontational, but more often it is a journey full of surprises and discovery. There is joy in our food. If we think upon this, it is intuitively obvious. This blog is a journey of joy and sharing, reflecting what the French like to call "joie de vivre" (joy of living). No one could be more different from one another then my husband and my mother. Yet one thing they share in common is knowing intuitively that food, cooking, and sharing can be avenues of joy in life itself. So herein, help yourself, to a little joy and , if you like it, share it with your own family and friends. Joy is something that should be shared.

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